1970
Cadillac Commercial Cars: The two
illustrations below are from the annual Cadillac catalog of commercial vehicles. Also
illustrated were finished cars from Hess & Eisenhardt, Miller-Meteor, Superior as well
as a magnificent Fleetwood Seventy-Five limousine from the Cadillac factory.
 
Casale, Dario
(Italy) custom hearse conversion of Fleetwood body [info from Ingo Marx, custom Cadillac
enthusiast and hearse specialist, from Germany].
Hess & Eisenhardt [see
S&S, below] (USA)
Miller-Meteor (USA) Various commercial
vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
A survivor found on the Internet
 
 
Miller-Meteor 48" Ambulance survivors
[ Photo: Internet, 2001 and 2008 ]
 
Classic Limousine
combination coach; another fine survivor
This high-top, 54" ambulance survivor is a Miller-Meteor
creation
[ Photo: Internet, 11/2001 ]
S&S (USA) Various
commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles in the S&S
series are shown below:
 
Above two rows: S&S High-Body ambulance
Above two rows: S&S Kensington ambulance
 
S&S Parkway ambulance
S&S Victoria hearse
Superior Coach Corp. (USA) Various commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral
trades; typical styles shown below:
Crown Sovereign end -loading landaulet
Catalog illustration of the 1970 Royale
ambulance
Original factory photo of the Rescuer
ambulance survivor, below,
that features the 51" roof line
 
 
This beautiful Superior ambulance was on
show at the CLC Grand National, Detroit, 2002
[ Photos (bottom row): © 2002, J. Scott Harris ]
 
These two additional snapshots are borrowed from the
Web site of the Raritan Region CLC;
my friend Sarah from Cleveland, OH, tells me this survivor is owned by Dan,
a PCS member (like her) who resides in Pennsylvania
 
Catalog cover illustration (left) shows a Crown
Sovereign landaulet model
(right) a surviving Sovereign landaulet
[Unidentified]
(USA)
1971
Cadillac (USA) In this year's
catalog of professionl cars issued by the company are featured these two illustrations, in
addition to the usual selection of vehicles proposed by the individual coachbuilders
Cadillac's own catalog of
professionl car proposals for 1971 includes this (and other)
illustrations from the three major coachbuilders; rough paper used resulted in this
poor scan
[ Source: Z. Taylor Vinson, collection ]
 
[ Source: Z. Taylor Vinson,
collection ]
Hess & Eisenhardt [see S&S, below]
(USA)
Miller-Meteor (USA) Celebrated their 100th
year of commercial car manufacture. Again, various bodies were built on the Cadillac
chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades. The car immediately below is believed
to be one of them (confirmation is sought)
[ Source: Z. Taylor Vinson,
collection ]
The Classic funeral limousine
The Citation hearse
The top-of-the-range Olympian landau hearse
cost $14,520 as a straight end-loader; a Duplex combination type
sold for $15,616; the 3-way type with manual table went for $16,078 (with a power
table the price went up to $16,643)
Landau style Hearse interior
Extending casket table option
The Eterna, available with all casket
handling configurations and also as a combination model
Combination interior
The Landau Traditional funeral car
 
Above two rows: Landau Traditional hearse
(rear and side-loading)
The Lifeliner ambulance with 54"
headroom
 
The Volunteer ambulance with 48"
headroom
 
The Guardian ambulance with 43"
headroom
Superior (USA) Various
commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
[ Source: Z. Taylor Vinson,
collection ]
S&S, from Hess & Eisenhardt (USA)
Various bodies on the Cadillac chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades. Some
examples in the S&S Series, from a product brochure, are shown below [the
latter cars are wrongly ID'd as 1972 models in the otherwise accurate book by Thomas A.
McPherson - needless to say, the 1972 and 1973 cars are very similar in appearance]
[ Source: Z. Taylor Vinson,
collection ]
 
Above three rows: the S&S Park Hill
combination model
[the padded top on this model is said to be "designed to last for more than
ten years..."]
Above three rows: The S&S Park Row
 
 
Above three rows: the S&S Custom
Victoria landau model
(Superior) (USA/Switzerland): This vehicle operated in
Switzerland for many years. I believe it has now been relegated to
a museum in that country.
[ Photo:
© Max Hess ]
1972
Cadillac (USA):
Commercial chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades
Hess & Eisenhardt [see
S&S, below] (USA)
McClain (USA)
This company made some fine, retro-looking flower cars in the 70s.
Miller-Meteor (USA) Various commercial
vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
Guardian 42" ambulance
 
Volunteer 48" (left), Lifeliner
54" (right)
Classic hearse
limousine
Eterna hearse
 
Landau Traditional hearse; the survivor (lower image) belongs to Chris DiGanci
[ photo courtesy of the owner ]]
Possibly a Miller-Meteor survivor
S&S (USA) Various bodies
on the Cadillac chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades. Currently, no examples
are available for showing.
Superior (USA) Various
commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
Superior flower car
Superior standard ambulance
[Unknown, USA] Various
commercial vehicles for the funeral and ambulance trades, like the unidentified cars below
 
1972-73
[Unknown, USA] Stretched 4-door
sedan-limousine
[Unknown, USA]
Custom station wagon on Fleetwood chassis
1973
Cadillac Commercial Car Catalog, it
includes representative styles from the three major coach-building companies entrusted
with the Cadillac commercial chassis : (1)
Miller-Meteor Division, Wayne Corporation, Piqua, OH, (2) Hess &
Eisenhardt Company, Cincinnati, OH [makers of the S&S models], (3) Superior
Coach Corporation, Lima, OH
 
(Left) Catalog cover illustration for 1973 Cadillac
commercial chassis
(Right) From that catalog, Cadillac's own 7-8 pass. sedans and limousines
[ Source: Z. Taylor Vinson, collection ]
 
Interior (left) and optional imitation landau bars
(right)
Hess & Eisenhardt [see
S&S, below] (USA)
Miller-Meteor (USA) Various
commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
The Citation funeral car
The Classic combination wagon
The Eterna funeral car
 
The Landau Traditional funeral car
The Olympian funeral
car
[ this illustration was also used in Cadillac's own
commercial car catalog ]
 
Two survivors
The Volunteer ambulance with 48"
headroom; at right, a survivor in fine condition
Another survivor in excellent condition
[ Photo: Internet ]
The Lifeliner with 54" of headroom
The Guardian with 43" of headroom
S&S (USA)
Various bodies on the Cadillac chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades. One
example of a stylish hearse is shown below :
[ illustration from Cadillac's own commercial car
catalog ]
Superior (USA) Various
commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
[ illustration from Cadillac's own commercial car
catalog ]
Superior survivor owned by John R. Keel
"Ravenna", as she is called, has reversing rollers and folding
attendants' seats allowing conversion from funeral coach to ambulance
[ photo: © 2006, Gregg Merksamer, CLC ]
[Unknown, USA]: So far, I
have not been able to identify the coachbuilder of this 1973 ambulance
[Unknown, USA]: Same here.
This one is (was) touted as the "longest" Cadillac, until Leo Weiser
built one even longer ... soon to be beaten by Jay Ohrberg
1974
Cadillac Commercial Cars:
 
The Seventy-Five, Cadillac's multi-purpose
professional car
Hess & Eisenhardt [see
S&S, below] (USA)
Miller-Meteor (USA) Various
commercial vehicles for the ambulance and funeral trades; typical styles shown below:
The Citation funeral car
The Classic funeral car
The Olympian funeral car
 
An "Olympian" style survivor in very
nice condition
The Eterna funeral car
The Landau Traditional funeral car
 
 
  
 
The Criterion ambulance
 
The Lifeliner with 54" of headroom
 
The Volunteer ambulance with 48" of
headroom
S&S (USA)
Various bodies on the Cadillac chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades, like the
sample cars, below.
S&S Park Row combination coach
Superior (USA)
Various bodies on the Cadillac chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades, like the
sample models, below.
 
[Photos: © 2000, Yann Saunders]
Wayne Corporation (Divco-Wayne, formerly Miller-Meteor) (USA)
This slightly customized survivor resides in Belgium. I got the info in March 2008 by the
owner of a similar '76 model, Xavier Moisson. He wrote: A
friend and I are founders of a rare, European hearse club. My friend has this 1974, as well as a '78 with a gothic interior. If you want, you can see them on our
website here
and here. Our club is called "The
Corpse Drivers "; we started it when we bought the hearses, last year (2007 ); they
used to be on duty in Belgium but are now retired
from service; the '76 and '74 models were always used together. BTW, the
"custom" chrome side rails are used to hang flower wreaths.
  
 
  
[ Photos: © 2007 and courtesy of "The Corpse
Drivers" ]
1974-75
Hess & Eisenhardt [see
S&S, below] (USA)
Miller-Meteor (USA) Cadillac delivered its
highly successful commercial chassis to a number of independent coach builders like
Miller-Meteor who continued to design ambulances,. hearses and combination vehicles.
Miller -Meteor Volunteer ambulance
Miller -Meteor Lifeliner ambulance
Miller -Meteor Olympian hearse
S&S (USA) Various bodies on the
Cadillac chassis for the ambulance and funeral trades.
Sarah, from Cleveland, OH, identified this one for me
as a 1971
S&S Medic Mark I model from Hess & Eisenhardt; she says
it is owned by Evan, a PCS member from Midland, Ontario, Canada
The S&S funeral coach range for 1974
Superior (USA) Cadillac delivered its
highly successful commercial chassis to a number of independent coach builders like
Superior who continued to design ambulances,. hearses, combination vehicles and rare
flower cars (as below)
[Unknown, USA]: So far, I
have not been able to identify the coachbuilder of this "pimped up" 1974 funeral
coach
Various manufacturers (USA):
as usual, Cadillac delivered its highly successful commercial chassis to a number of
independent coach builders who continued to design ambulances,. hearses and combination
vehicles. Some of these are shown below:
  
I photographed these "abandoned" 70-80s
models
in Denmark ...South Carolina, in 2008
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